James Wan has proven himself a master of his craft in the last 20 years. Dipping effortlessly between billion-dollar blockbusters and low-budget chillers, the Australian filmmaker is always worth keeping an eye on. But having just completed work on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the final film in the extinct DC Extended Universe, he’s looking for something a bit closer to his roots.

Wan made his name in Hollywood as the co-creator of the Saw franchise, but really broke into the big time after he directed Insidious and The Conjuring to critical acclaim, bringing horror back into the mainstream, and taking a producing role on various spin-offs and follow-ups in both universes. A film, intended to be the finale in The Conjuring universe, entitled Last Rites, has been in development for over a year with franchise stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga attached. Now, Wan‘s latest comments will no doubt fuel speculation that he may well fancy one more attempt at tacking the works of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Speaking with Collider‘s Perri Nemiroff, while on the promotional trail for the superhero film which stars Jason Momoa as the titular hero and King of Atlantis, the question was posed to Wan that, having done his work on the two Aquaman films as well as done a remarkable job on Furious 7, the best Fast & Furious film for many, was there a chance we could see him change tact and perhaps head back to his horror roots? After all, he did tell Nemiroff that he enjoyed the chance to lean “a little bit more into the darker part of storytelling and visual filmmaking” with the new monsters in the superhero movie.

Will James Wan Direct ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’?

With Wan confessing that he had an “itch” that he wanted to scratch when it came to the genre in which he cut his teeth, he admitted that he wanted to do a “smaller film.” Now, The Conjuring may not be as small as it was when it began, but the franchise is definitely smaller than Aquaman. Wan hasn’t said if he’ll be back for the next film in The Conjuring universe, but fans have every reason to remain hopeful:

“You know, I have a tendency to want to go back and forth. So, whenever I make a smaller film, I wanna go and make a big film. Whenever I’m doing a big one, I’m like, “Oh, I wanna go and do a smaller film,” and when I do my smaller films, it tends to be a horror film. So, you know, I feel like the itch for horror is potentially calling, but we’ll see.”

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is due to release on December 23, 2023.

via Collider